Salary Slip Format in Excel with Formula (2026): Layout, Formulas and Worked Example

If you issue salary slips from Excel, a good template saves hours every month — and a bad one produces payslips that don't add up. This guide gives you a salary slip format in Excel with formulas: the layout, every formula you need, a worked example, how to generate slips for many employees, and when it makes sense to move to payroll software.

Updated 30 September 2026.

The short answer

• A salary slip in Excel has four blocks: company and employee details, attendance, earnings and deductions, and net pay.
• Key formulas: prorated earnings by paid days, PF on earned basic, ESI on earned gross, totals, and net pay in words.
• Link the slip to a salary sheet with lookups, so one template produces every employee's slip.
• Export each slip as PDF before sending.
• Move to software when you have more than 15–20 employees, or PF and ESI make the template complicated.

The salary slip layout

Block 1 — Header

Field	Cell
Company name, address	Merged cells at the top
"Salary slip for the month of"	B4
Month and year	C4 (e.g. 01-09-2026, formatted "mmmm yyyy")

Block 2 — Employee details

Field	Cell	Formula (from a "Salary" sheet)
Employee code	C6	Typed or picked from a drop-down
Name	C7	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!B:B)
Designation	C8	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!C:C)
Department	C9	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!D:D)
UAN	F6	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!E:E)
ESIC IP number	F7	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!F:F)
PAN	F8	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!G:G)
Bank account	F9	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!H:H)

(Use VLOOKUP if your Excel version doesn't have XLOOKUP.)

Block 3 — Attendance

Field	Cell	Formula
Days in month	C11	=DAY(EOMONTH(C4,0))
Loss-of-pay days	C12	=XLOOKUP(C6, Salary!A:A, Salary!I:I)
Paid days	C13	=C11−C12

Block 4 — Earnings and deductions

Earnings	Monthly rate	Earned (formula)
Basic	B16 (lookup)	=ROUND(B16*$C$13/$C$11,0)
HRA	B17 (lookup)	=ROUND(B17*$C$13/$C$11,0)
Special allowance	B18 (lookup)	=ROUND(B18*$C$13/$C$11,0)
Other earnings / incentives	B19 (lookup)	=B19 (not prorated)
Gross earnings		=SUM(C16:C19)

Deductions	Formula
Employee PF	=IF(pf_applicable="Y", ROUND(MIN(C16,25000)*12%,0), 0)
Employee ESI	=IF(esi_applicable="Y", ROUNDUP(C20*0.75%,0), 0)
Professional Tax	Lookup or state slab
TDS	Lookup from your tax sheet
Advance recovery	Lookup
Total deductions	=SUM(F16:F20)

Net pay

Field	Formula
Net pay	=C20−F21
Net pay in words	A custom function or a manual entry (Excel has no built-in rupees-in-words function)

Footer: "This is a computer-generated salary slip and does not require a signature."

Worked example

Kiran, September 2026 (30 days), 1 day of leave without pay:

Item	Monthly	Earned (29/30)
Basic	₹16,000	₹15,467
HRA	₹6,400	₹6,187
Special allowance	₹4,600	₹4,447
Incentive	₹1,000	₹1,000
Gross		₹27,101
Employee PF (12% of ₹15,467)		₹1,856
Employee ESI	Not covered (gross above ₹21,000)	₹0
Professional Tax		₹200
Total deductions		₹2,056
Net pay		₹25,045

Generating slips for every employee

1. Keep all employees in the Salary sheet, one row each.
2. On the Slip sheet, make the employee code (C6) a drop-down (Data → Data Validation → List).
3. Change the code; the whole slip updates.
4. Export as PDF (File → Save as → PDF), named with code and month.
5. For many employees, a simple macro can loop through codes and save each slip as a PDF. Or use mail merge from the Salary sheet into a Word template.

Rules to get right

• Prorate every fixed component by paid days — not just basic.
• PF on basic earned, within your ceiling policy (₹25,000 from 17 September 2026).
• ESI on gross earned for employees covered in the contribution period; round the employee share up to the next rupee.
• Don't prorate one-off earnings like incentives.
• Show employer contributions (PF, ESI) separately if you like — but don't include them in gross.
• Protect formula cells so nobody types over them.

Common mistakes

1. Typed numbers over formulas.
2. Wrong days in the month after copying last month's file.
3. Lookups breaking when rows are inserted.
4. PF calculated on full basic despite loss of pay.
5. ESI recalculated monthly instead of per contribution period.
6. Net pay in words not matching the figure.
7. Slips emailed as editable Excel files instead of PDF.

When to move from Excel to payroll software

• More than 15–20 employees.
• PF and ESI apply, and you also prepare the ECR and ESIC return by hand.
• Attendance comes from a biometric machine and is retyped.
• Generating and emailing slips takes hours.

How PeopleVio generates salary slips

• Payroll from attendance — paid days and loss of pay calculated automatically.
• Every component prorated, with incentives and deductions added as custom components.
• PF, VPF and ESI on earned wages, with UAN and ESIC IP printed on the slip.
• TDS under the old or new regime.
• A professional PDF payslip with your logo, earnings and deductions tables, employer contributions and net pay in words.
• Emailed to every employee in one run, and downloadable from their login.
• PF ECR and ESIC return generated from the same numbers.

Limitation: Professional Tax isn't calculated — add it as a deduction.

Active employees	Monthly billing	Yearly billing (per month)
10	₹590	₹490
25	₹1,475	₹1,225
50	₹2,450	₹2,050

Prices exclude GST. See the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make a salary slip in Excel with formulas? Create a Salary sheet with one row per employee, and a Slip sheet that looks up the employee's details and calculates earned components, PF, ESI, total deductions and net pay.

What is the formula for net salary in Excel? Net pay = gross earned − total deductions, where each earned component = ROUND(monthly amount × paid days ÷ days in month, 0).

How do I calculate PF in a salary slip? =ROUND(MIN(basic_earned, 25000) × 12%, 0) if you cap at the ceiling; otherwise 12% of basic earned.

Can Excel convert net pay to words in rupees? Not with a built-in function. Use a custom VBA function or type it manually.

Is an Excel salary slip valid? Yes, if it contains the required details. Send it as a PDF.

The bottom line

A well-built Excel salary slip template works for a small team. Link it to a single salary sheet, protect the formulas, and export PDFs. When the team grows or PF and ESI files enter the picture, let payroll software generate and send every slip for you.

See PeopleVio's pricing or book a demo.

Related reading: Salary slip generator software · Attendance and salary sheet in Excel · PF calculation on salary · How to calculate salary per day